Vulnerable
by Ombrifuge
Summary: With them being watched and being hunted down by what traps them in the arena, how can their romantic feelings for each other exist? What happens when the 'game machines' of District 2 realize they're human too? How vulnerable will they be?
1. Chapter 1: Moonlit

**Clato's POV**

Leaves crunch as I pick up a handful and crush them with my fist. I rest my head on the tree trunk I am leaning on and I stare into the sky. They look so real and for a moment you feel free, but everything comes back when your eyes fall to the ground. You feel free until a voice brings you back.

"Cato, you're being stupid. Stop crushing those leaves and shush!"

Clove is crouching by the bush, fingers tight around a newly-sharpened knife. I can tell by the way it reflects the cold night sky's remaining light. I can see her eyes are watery and by the way her arms fall asleep for a bit then twitch back up, that she's tired.

"You know what?" I straighten up and I grasp my sword "You sleep and i'll keep a look out."

She gives me a confused look and she forms a scowl.

"You think i'm weak, don't you Cato?" her eyes are like daggers "You think i'm just some weak pussycat that can throw knives, huh?"

I look straight into her eyes, trying my best not to blink. I could tell her that I do think she's weak and I could break her like a toothpick, but I decide not to tell her. I'll break her when I get the chance. She'll fall into a bloody pile.

"I can't understand a thing you're saying" I say, my tone higher "Go to sleep before I knock you out, you hear me?"

She lies on the ground, hand still gripping on a knife. She just looks at me and I look back at her from time to time. The moonlight illuminates half of her face and you could see how brown her eyes are at some moments. They would have been beautiful to me, but those eyes are out to get me. She's out to get me.

"Clove, I told you to sleep three minutes ago!" I tell her "Damn it, Clove! I'm trying to be nice here!"

A sinister smile forms on her face for a while and she keeps on glaring at me. Something tells me she doesn't like it when people tell her what to do.

I move in closer, the leaves crunching under my weight. My shadow covers half of her and I crouch down beside her. She stays still.

"Clove" I say "So help me, if you don't accept how nice I am now before I slice you to bits, i'm going to knock you out right now."

I can hear her gulp a bit. I can hear her fingers playing with her knife.

"And it won't hurt a bit" I continue "It will hurt a lot more than just 'a bit'"

And then she closes her eyes and I decide to spare her life.

She lays motionless on the ground, fingers still grasping a knife. Under the moonlight, she looks pale. Under the sky, she looks so little. Under the stars, she looks dead.

And I admit, the sight pained me a little.


	2. Chapter 2: 'Fearless'

**Clove's POV**

"Cato?" I sit up hastily "Cato, this isn't funny!"

I can feel my face growing hotter. I'm angry and i'm alone. I knew I shouldn't have closed my eyes. A battle would have been easy. A knife by the throat, a knife through his gut, a knife slicing across his forehead.

But no. I let him watch me while I slept. I let him leave me on the ground, unconscious. I could have died.

"Cato, you idiot." I mutter under my breath as I stand up. A couple of leaves stick to my jacket and I brush them off.

I trudge to the right, my knife ready to pounce and my heart beating fast. I turn left and right and I see a figure. And I recognize that figure. And I can hear blood pounding in my ears.

"Cato, you hell of a jerk!" I throw the knife and it sticks to the tree in front of him. I could have hit him. Of course I could have hit him. Why didn't I? I grab another knife.

"Clove!" He shouts, glancing back and forth from me, the knife on the trunk, and the knife in my hand "What's wrong with you!"

I throw another and it hits the spot just inches away from his leg. Why can't I hit him? He's a threat. I can do this. I can kill him, kill the others, and I can get home. I only need to throw the knife accurately.

"Clove, are you insane!" he stomps closer to me and i'm ready. I'm ready to hit him this time.

"Damn it, Cato! You left me while I was unconscious!" I step back every time he steps closer "Little miss girl on fire is out there! Her annoying little dumb boyfriend's out there too! They're there, Cato! The redhead, that guy from district eleven. They're out there and you left me!"

I can feel myself pressing against a tree trunk. He can kill me now. I can kill him too. I glance back and forth from his sword to my knife. He's going to chop my head off and he's going to be slashed by my blades. He'll bleed to death and i'll die.

I wait for him to say something. The silence is deafening. I can hear my heavy breathing. I wait for him. I wait for him to make the first move. I'll throw the knife at him. Maybe we could die and just get this over with.

"So, is it my turn to sleep now?" is all he says.

He lies down on the ground, still a sword in his grip. I can see blood stains on the blade and I can imagine how my blood would look upon it, the glow is rusty.

"I was looking out. I heard noises." he says to me and I scowl at him.

"Noises, my ass."

I crouch beside him. I can't seem to let go of my knife. Maybe i'm scared. Maybe i'm just too smart for him.

He wraps his free hand around mine in a tight grip.

"Let go, Cato!" I pull on it and then I rest the tip of my knife on his wrist "Let go!"

"Nuh uh" is the last thing he says before he closes his eyes. He still doesn't let go.

The knife moves away from him and now I can take a closer look at him. I could kill him right now. His blood can spill right now. I can do it.

But why couldn't I?


	3. Chapter 3: Out of the blue

**Clato's POV**

My hand wraps around my enemy's hand. I'm not going to let her go like that. My eyes underneath my eyelids feel warm. I open one eye every now and then to check on Clove. I expect a knife holding me in place, but I only see her watching me. She looks mad. I tighten my grip.

"Ow!" she jumps, drops her knife for a second, and then punches the side of my arm. It didn't hurt.

"Weak" I say, my voice croaking. I guess I really am tired.

"Not, dumbass" she says. I can hear her picking up her knife "I thought you were asleep."

"Not, dumbass" I mock her and she punches my arm again. I smirk and then I pass out. I can still feel her hand in mine. She's not getting away.

I squeeze my eyes tightly and open them. The stars are still out, but the air smells metallic like rain's heading our way. I sit up and notice that Clove's hand is still crunched up in mine.

"Clove" I say, my hand gripping hers tightly. I want it to hurt. I want to make her feel like i'm so much better than she will ever be.

She doesn't say anything. She just glares at me, eye circles under her eyes, a hand teasing a sharp knife.

"Clove!" I say again, just lower than a shout. Why won't she respond? I just anchored her to me. I didn't leave her this time. What the hell does this woman want from me?

The next thing I do doesn't make sense to me. In my mind, I think it doesn't make sense to her either. I pulled her quick with my hand that's gripping hers and her small frame bumps into my side. She grimaces then scowls. She still doesn't say anything which makes my blood boil.

My free hand grabs her shoulder, my thumb on her collar bone. My eyes don't stray away from hers and she probably sees this as a challenge. Her eyes don't stray away from mine either. They look more menacing with my face just inches from hers. I can feel her warm breath puffing on my face, my heart beating fast. I can feel a small amount of adrenaline rushing in my veins and I pin her down with half of my body on top of her. Her hair cushions her head and bits of leaves cover her arms.

If she wasn't out to get me, I would have liked her to a degree, but I see her as a weakling. I see her as an enemy i'm supposed to kill. Little miss Clove will die and I will be the cause.

"Clove!" I say hastily, a tone higher "I swear if you keep trying to anger me, I'll break you right now like the little twig that you are!"

She remains calm and this makes me fill up with rage. I can feel my fingers twitch, my ears hot, my eyesight unfocused.

I grab for my sword.

The weapon shines in my hand as I raise it up just above her head. Her hand grabs for a knife just as I expected. I can feel the tension in the air, the madness in the silence. I can feel our heartbeats in the decelerating motion of time and I can hear our every breath. Each one could be the last.

And what she does doesn't make sense to me. In my mind, it probably doesn't make sense to her either.

Before I did the most ridiculous thing I could do right now in the games, I could see a face pressing against mine and a tingle at the back of my neck.

Clove's lips are upon mine.

And I press mine against hers.

And our heartbeats turn to music rather than a call of death.


	4. Chapter 4: Stupidity

**Clove's POV**

I realized it while he was asleep, while he was gripping my hand. I watched him breathe in the air in the arena and I saw him breathe it out. I watched him snore a little bit and I marveled the shadows lying on his face. I marveled at how different he looks when he's peaceful.

I moved a little closer and touched the side of his face with a shaky finger. His nose crinkled.

"Go away" he muttered and went back to snoring.

"No" I said silently. I stopped touching his face anyway.

Brutal and bloody Cato. Sometimes people forget that he's human too. Sometimes I forget that i'm human. I am not a machine. I am not a lottery ticket. I am a person and I can bleed. I can die. I am a trapped human. I have feelings.

And i'm afraid I might like the Brutal bloody Cato.

I didn't know what got into me, why I suddenly pulled in his head. Is that what love is? Does love make you do that or is it just utter stupidity? I could have waited somehow. Why didn't I wait? Love makes you stupid, doesn't it? It made me stupid.

His sword went up in the air, blocking the moonlight. I grabbed a knife by instinct and it was ready to pounce. Is that really what I want? The rust in the sword in his hand is frightening and so are the stains of blood.

I don't know if it's because of fear, maybe stupidity.

But the next thing I know, I was kissing him.

His lips are soft, a bit chapped from thirst probably. My hand behind his neck touches a part of his hair and then I am brought down to reality. I realize who I am kissing. I realize that those lips are the ones of my enemy.

I like my enemy.

He isn't my enemy by natural cause if that makes any sense. He was forced to be my enemy.

The person beside me on that stage would be a threat and unfortunately, he became that person.

And I got messed up. I hold retarded feelings.

Maybe this isn't what I'm supposed to do. I'm not supposed to be kissing him. The warmth against my own lips and the breaths heating up my face. These are all wrong.

I then retract my hand from his neck. I pull back my head and cold night air quickly fills up the space. I breathe and blink. Before I look down and deny everything, he cups my head in his hands and pulls me towards him.

We are now sitting up, my fists on his chest. I can feel his every heartbeat and they are fast. Maybe as fast mine.

His hands on the sides of my face are strong and I wish to look into his eyes but the pleasure forces my own eyes shut. I slowly slide my hands towards the back of his neck and pull him closer. The pressure is intoxicating. If only his lips could press even more close, but there's no space.

My cheeks feel warm and my guts feel tingly. My heart is racing and I think I have forgotten how to breathe.

Everything disappears as my lips slide against his. I forget that he's going to kill me. I forget that I should kill him before he kills me. I forget the bloodshed and I forget that I am being watched. I forget that i'm in a game.

Our movement is rhythmic and his kisses are good. He's not sloppy and I could feel that he might want to shove his tongue down my throat. That will surely kill me in another sense. But he doesn't.

He pulls back and my head moves forward to catch a last kiss. I do and I smile a bit while biting my lip. I wait for his eyes to meet mine.

They don't.

"Clove, I-" he places his hands on my shoulders and I pull back my hands from his neck. Maybe I was right. Maybe this is wrong and that wasn't supposed to happen. "Just don't"

That was incomplete. Don't what? I can feel a lump in my throat as I try and analyze his words. I hope my guesses are as accurate as my aim, but this is different.

"Don't what?" my voice is shaky.

"We're not supposed to… this isn't… just don't."

He can't seem to look at me. He looks fragile and he's taking in shaky breaths. The chilly night air seems cooler and the sound of the wind seems to hold secrets. Don't what?

I can feel my body dropping which is strange. I am sitting still with my hands so cold. I get what he means. Maybe I do. Maybe I don't.

I know that my life might stop in this arena. His life might stop in this arena. Only one can come out and there's the two of us. I think I might be attracted to him and I think I better grab the chance before my blood stains the grass.

Being a person feels weird. I've never looked at things other than this. It was more of a "Survival of the fittest". This is the time where I pray I should have stuck with being my district's machine. I should have been just metal in human flesh, a killing machine partnered with another killing machine.

That's all that we are, right?

We were trained for years in a training area in the district. All day, we would sweat our lives out in that area because we've been given a purpose. Our purpose is to train, play this horrific game, survive, and bring glory to the district.

I would pass by a lot of people. They would marvel at the sunset and maybe breathe in some fresh air. And do you know what I said to them?

"You are foolish for being so blind!"

I'm foolish for being so blind. A view of the sunset in my district would be really nice right now.

We're metal in human flesh. We live to play the games and that's our only purpose. We play in a sick game, me and my knives. And he and his sword.

I can love when I die, but that's not what happened.

I loved while I was still breathing and every breath hurts while I suck in the truth.


End file.
